The first post-covid blockbuster of Mollywood was almost a guaranteed success from the get-go, starring Mammootty and Manju Warrier for the first time together in their career, and including a mashup of all time-favorite genre elements, namely whodunit and supernatural horror among others.
The protagonist of the story is Father Carmen Benedict, who is also a parapsychologist and a detective frequently cooperating with the police. As the story begins, Diya, a young woman asks him to investigate a string of suicides in the rich Alatt family. Father Benedict and a police officer arrange an appointment to meet Elizabeth, the sole surviving member of the family, the next day and inquire about the mysterious suicides, but unfortunately, she also kills herself at night. The only person present with Elizabeth was Ameya Gabriel, a 11-year old orphan girl whom she picked up in Chennai.
Ameya, a girl who almost never speaks, to the frustration of her teachers and caretakers, was running away from the orphanage, and is returned there after the death of Elizabeth, but a murder attempt on her life the same night warns Father Benedict and the police of a grave conspiracy, implying that she had seen Elizabeth's killer. Eventually, Father Benedict manages to solve the case, but soon it is revealed that Ameya is not who she seems to be, and that the new teacher in the orphanage, Jessie, who takes her under her wing and even convinces the orphanage administration to allow her to take with her for two months of vacations, is in more trouble then she could anticipate.
Jofin T. Chacko's obvious goal was to draw in as much audience as possible, with the approach becoming obvious in every aspect, and particularly the combination of casting and Hollywood aesthetics, including a number of loans, of which the noir film and “The Exorcist” are the most evident. Furthermore, starting with the Christian hymns in the beginning, and continuing with the epic sound effects that accompany the majority of significant actions in the movie, and finishing with the overall soundtrack, Chacko frequently implements music video aesthetics in the narrative, in another crowd-pleasing element.
In that regard, he benefits the most by the production values of the movie, with Akhil George's cinematography being impressive on occasion, particularly in the noir and the supernatural scenes, while his framing of Father Benedict adds much to the overall hypostasis of the character. The work done in the sound is also top notch, the SFX rather convincing, and the art direction by Sujith Raghav excellent, with the same applying to Praveen Varman's costumes, which find their highlight again in Father Benedict.
Mammootty is a superstar of Malayalam cinema and for good reason. His presence fills the screen every time he appears in it, with his charisma being more than evident, as much as his acting abilities, since he appears convincing in every kind of aspect his role demands here. He even manages to pull the mix of priest/detective/exorcist in a way that makes sense, for the most part at least. Nikhila Vimal as Jessie is also radiant with her evident beauty helping significantly in the presentation of the benevolent teacher with a secret character of hers, with her acting also being quite fitting in the role. Monica as Ameya Gabriel has her moments, particularly in the sinister elements of her character, but occasionally, it seems that she was asked to do much more than she could, in a rather demanding role that she still not has the level to fully fulfill.
The real issues with the movie, however, lie with the script and the overall context. All the main elements of the story, including the presentation and transformation of the girl, the solution of the initial and the later mystery, the inclusion of a supernatural element and most of all, the very ending, linger among the cliche, the cheesy and the far-fetched, with Chacko's insistence on including as many popular elements as possible faulting the overall narrative significantly in that regard.. Furthermore, in order to include them all, the director had to extend the duration to 140 minutes, which also caused a number of problems, since the movie becomes tiring after a point, and its faults more obvious, with the repeating sound effects being one of the most evident samples in that regard. Lastly, the transition between the two cases is handled badly, with Shameer Muhammed's editing not helping at all in that regard, despite the fact that the pace of the film is generally fitting.
“The Priest” has a number of redeeming qualities, with the acting and the overall level of production being rather high, but has stumbled upon the usual reef of many commercial films, favoring impression instead of substance. Considering its success in the box office however, it definitely fulfilled its purpose.
Siddharth was simply trying to protect Jessie, who was still unaware of the reality, from the consequences.
This degree of a man’s love and support of a woman is admirable
Good point